The "Terrible Mother" story

I was wondering if anyone would notice that I mentioned the "terrible mother" thing in my last title, and since some of you did, I'll tell the story.

It was our last day at the beach. Lou had taken the girls out to this huge waterslide on the beach, and I was back at the hotel hanging out while Edward napped. We had agreed to meet at a certain spot on the beach at about 12:30. When Edward woke up, I got us all ready (sunscreen, bathing suits and all that racket), packed some snacks and we headed outside to the beach. I couldn't carry all of our beach stuff, because I already had to carry Edward and my backpack. So, when Lou and the girls met us on the beach, he said he would go back to get our beach umbrella and towels and some other stuff while I reapplied the sunscreen to the girls. So that is the setting. I am on the beach with the three kids, and Lou is up in the hotel room gathering beach stuff.

Well, it just so happened that this afternoon Maria was deciding to be a pain in the butt (kids do this from time to time just to prove to you that you do NOT have perfect children, just in case you ever start to lose your humility and think that you do).

First she kicked sand in Josephine's face (whether it was on purpose or not? Who knows, because it's not like she would admit it if is was on purpose - she's not stupid).

Next she decided that a good place to dust off her sandy hands would be directly over the open container of fresh fruit that Josephine was snacking on. Sand-covered fruit - delicious.

Then, while I was putting on her sunscreen, she kept trying to walk off while I was putting it on, and whining and complaining that she didn't want to get sunscreen put on.

I don't know what had come over her, but my usually very helpful Maria was behaving like a 2-year-old, and it was driving me nuts. She was just being a pill, and since I was distracted by two other children, one who kept crying that her fruit was ruined and that there was still sand in her eyes, and one of whom kept wandering off (yes, that would be Edward), I was not handling it in the most patient way. Every couple of minutes I found myself yelling at Maria for something or other, and at the same time trying to call Edward back to us and keep him entertained while I put lotion on the girls so he wouldn't keep wandering off.

During all of this fiasco (or what many of you other mothers will call "just another day in the life"), I couldn't help but notice this middle aged woman nearby who appeared to be staring at us. At first I thought I was just being paranoid, but everytime I looked in her direction she was looking straight at us. "Gosh, she probably thinks I'm a basketcase with all the yelling I've been doing", I thought to myself, then decided that she probably was not even looking at us, it was probably just my imagination.

I finished up all the sunscreen (my least favorite part of the beach experience), and started playing around with the kids making sand castles, digging holes, etc. Lou showed up and we set up the blanket and umbrella.

Right about that point, the woman who I thought had been staring at us walked over to Lou and me.

"Have you two ever seen the show 'What Would You Do?' ", she asked us. I was kind of confused by this random question, and we answered that we had not. She told us that it was a show where cameras went around and filmed random instances of bad behavior in public to see if any bystanders would do anything to help/stop the situation.

"I actually think I may have heard of that show now that you describe it - why do you ask?" Lou says.

"Well", she says, "I don't know if you're aware, but I've been watching you since you got here, and do you know what I've heard?"
She then proceeded to imitate my voice:
"MARIA!!!" (she yelled her name in this shrill, high voice)
"Oh, Edgar" (she said his name in this sweet sing song voice, and I have no idea why she thought his name was Edgar)
"MARIA!!" (more shrill yelling)
"Oh Edgar" (more singsong cooing)
She repeated this mocking voice about two more times.
Then she took off her sunglasses and said "Lady, it is obvious that you are the stepmother", and turned around and walked off, feeling quite proud of herself for figuring me all out in a whopping 10 minutes.

So there you go. I am a terrible mother because I scolded my child when she misbehaved. I am such a terrible mother that bystanders think that I must not be their real mother - I must be the wicked stepmother - because a real mother never loses her patience with her children. She is always sweet and kind and has an unending reserve of patience for each and every one of them. A real mother, ie, a "good mother" never yells.

So that is my story of how I got called a terrible mother, or, to be more precise, a "wicked stepmother", at the beach. It's official - I'm a bad mom. Well, at least according to the pudgy middleaged lady at Virginia Beach.

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Woo hoo for cloth diapering!

Back from the beach, where I laughed, played, splashed...and got called a terrible mother...

Our trip down south was lovely. 12 days away from home was nice - well the hours in the car weren't my favorite, truth be told, but the kids actually fared pretty well, thankfully.


We went to Virginia and visited our good friends the Tolboes, then down to North Carolina to visit my father-in-law and his wife for a few days, then back up to Virginia to play at the beach for five days, and then to Richmond to visit my cousin and her family for a couple of days. Friends, family, and the beach - what is better than that?


I completely flaked and didn't take any pictures of our visits with family and friends (for which I am still kicking myself - but alas, we were too busy enjoying ourselves to stop for photos!), but I do have some of the rest of our trip:

North Carolina

That was at a marine museum - her name was on the old life preserver - cool!

Maria and Josephine hamming it up, as usual.

Maria posing in an old bread over at Fort Branco (from the civil war period).

The kids and I making Lou VERY nervous standing on top of Fort Branco. Hey, I live dangerously. :)

Edward and I getting ready to blow the place up.

Virginia Beach

"Captain Brown Beard" - aka, Edward eating way too much sand, and loving it just a little too much.

Searching for baby crabs

"This looks interesting..."

"WHOA, where did all this water come from?!"

"Much better with Daddy's steady help"

We did it! We found a baby crab! Lou wanted to use it for bait for fishing, but Josephine, our resident humanitarian, would not allow it.

At the beach Edward got to be outside basically all day - he was in heaven.

Sisters. :)

Josephine flying her kite (by the way, the beach is AWESOME for kite-flying!)

I love this close up shot of her maneuvering her kite.

This crab was no baby - it was big, and ready to pinch!

Edward taking a snooze on the beach and Lou being a goof.

Inside the Virigina Aquarium, apparently being eaten by a Great White - bummer.

Trying to pet a sting ray, which we all ended up doing - it was so cool.

Posing in front of one of the aquariums - we spent over 2 hours here. We love aquariums!

Edward trying to climb through the fence to get to the birds

And Daddy doing double duting on the piggy back rides.

Seals!

Maria and Edward chillin' on our hotel balcony - we were right on the ocean, and it was awesome!

Mama and Maria

"Watch out - I WILL throw this sandball at you" Love her expression in this one.

Lou showing off his "perfectly formed" sandcastle.

Lou sticking his tongue out at me - typical. :)

Shot to the face!

Can you see Lou in this picture? He's the one holding Maria up!

Josephine preferred to stay on shore. ;)

Richmond

Hiking up a waterfall at Maymont Park

There are a lot more pictures, but these were my favorites - I love family vacations. :)